The city has installed one-way signs on Glenmore Avenue to prevent motorists from using the road as a shortcut, but SeeClickFixers say drivers are ignoring the signs and will continue to do so until police enforce the new traffic directive. (ERICA MILLER/emiller@saratogian.com)

The city has installed one-way signs on Glenmore Avenue to prevent motorists from using the road as a shortcut, but SeeClickFixers say drivers are ignoring the signs and will continue to do so until police enforce the new traffic directive. (ERICA MILLER/emiller@saratogian.com)

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Sometimes it takes more than just road signs to solve a traffic problem, as some residents of the area surrounding the intersection of Glenmore Avenue and West Circular Street have found out.

The Saratogian is partnering with the SeeClickFix service, accessible at www.saratogian.com/seeclickfix, to allow residents to publicly identify and comment on problems throughout the city and suggest solutions.

Initially, SeeClickFixers who live on West Circular Street near Glenmore Avenue turned to the website to bring attention to the fact that motorists were using their road as a shortcut.

"The cars line up outside the houses, squeal their tires to turn left onto Grand and put the children in danger," commenter John Koella wrote when he posted the original issue. "Traffic cuts through our neighborhood to avoid (the) light."

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He and others said drivers often sped down West Circular, took a right onto Glenmore and a left onto Grand Avenue as a way to avoid the traffic light at Grand and West avenues.

Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen, who lives in the area, said he was aware of the issue and worked with city traffic officers to address it.

The city designated a section of Glenmore Avenue a one-way street to render the route senseless as a shortcut.

Mathiesen said the residential street had been seeing more and more traffic as more people used it as a cut-through. "West Circular Street was never designed for that amount of traffic," he said.

Since the signs were installed, a number of residents who live on the road have commented on the SeeClickFix website that people are not respecting the one-way rules.

"Overall, I appreciated the city's efforts, and it has been very effective at clearing out a lot of the non-residential traffic," SeeClickFixer Glenmore Resident SC wrote. "But, I see dozens of drivers ignoring the one-way sign every day."

Koella, the SeeClickFixer who initially reported the problem, wrote, "Much thanks to Christian Mathiesen for addressing the problem of cut-through commuter traffic with a one-way. It has made a difference and has made the neighborhood safer. Maybe we need a few tickets to be written to discourage the drivers who ignore the traffic signs."

Mathiesen said he could not agree more.

"We wanted to give people a chance to get used to the change," he said last week. "But it is time to start enforcing."

Mathiesen said he will be asking police on traffic detail to visit the area, particularly between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m., when SeeClickFixers have reported the greatest number of violators.